It is recognized by the experts that low scoring golf ability begins with a good grip and that there are certain things you must do quite precisely and where being approximately right is not enough. The grip is the initial fundamental which must be fully right and where being less than fully right is not enough to give the golfer the foundation on which to build the skill to make a low score. The grip is thus the sine que non of golf.
It is generally recognized by the experts that the target hand should be dominant in the swing and that the off-target hand should not influence the swing. Since the off-target hand of right handed or left handed people is stronger than the target hand and with the person unconsciously pursuing his normally dominant use of the off-target hand with the target hand subservient, it is extremely difficult for the person to reverse the normally dominant hand and render it entirely subservient. Of course the hands work together as a unit in the golf grip and this adds to the person's problems as he has no objective scale of reference to determine whether he has effectively reversed the natural and unconscious dominance of his off-target hand and has correctly made his target hand dominant.
Before summarizing the present invention, the grip which is generally accepted as the "Preferred Grip" should be understood. For a right handed player this grip comprises setting the left hand on the club shaft with the back of the left hand facing the target with the club in the position it would be in in addressing the ball. The club is placed in the left hand so that the shaft is pressed up under the muscular pad at the inside heel of the left palm and so that the shaft lies directly across the top joint of the forefinger with the forefinger crooked around the shaft. The left hand is then closed by closing the last three fingers first and then closing the forefinger and the thumb. In the completed grip of the left hand, the main holding force is in the last three fingers with the last three fingers pressing up and the pad at the heel pressing down with the shaft locked in between. The gripping force of the left hand is thus applied between the last three fingers and the pad. The thumb rests on the top of the shaft and the forefinger lies crooked under the shaft. Thus the thumb and forefinger are loosely applied around the shaft leaving the last three fingers and the pad applying the gripping force. The right hand is then held somewhat extended with the palm facing the target. The right hand is then applied to the club so that the shaft lies across the first joint of the four fingers with the right palm entirely out of contact with the shaft. The right hand grips only with the two middle fingers; the little finger is nested between the middle finger and the forefinger of the left hand. The thumb lies on the left side of the shaft so that the "V" between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand is center-up on the shaft. The forefinger is loosely crooked at the middle joint against the shaft with the tip below and spaced from the thumb. The tips of the right forefinger and thumb touch one another.
In swinging the club with this grip, the super-dominant force is exerted by the last three fingers and pad of the left hand and the only portion of the right hand exerting any minimal force is the two middle fingers and this latter force should be very minimal.
On the back-swing, the left arm with shoulder rotation should push the shaft up with the last three fingers of the left hand supporting the club almost entirely if not entirely. The right arm and hand should not pull the club up and the two middle fingers should only be very slightly pressing to hold the right hand with the left in a completed grip. The key here is how much the right arm and hand interfere with the left by the right hand squeezing and pulling on the shaft. The proper grip is against the grain of the natural unconscious tendency to right hand dominance and pros and amateurs alike have the problem of too much right hand and just about any perceptible right hand is too much.
The foregoing description relative to right-handed players is the reverse for the left handed players.
The prior art is devoid of any means to measure and signal when too much off-target hand influence is involved in the swing.